Afghan refugees waiting to be deported to Afghanistan arrive at a center where their biometric data will be collected, on April 8, 2025, at the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. (Credit: Abdul Basit/AFP.)
The Taliban government on Tuesday condemned the 'violence' inflicted on Afghans during Pakistan's new massive expulsion campaign, accusing its neighbor of using these migrants 'for political purposes.'
'The mistreatment inflicted by neighboring countries is unacceptable and intolerable,' stated the Afghan Ministry of Refugees and Repatriation on the social network X, lamenting the lack of an agreement to facilitate departures.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 4,000 Afghans crossed the border on average Sunday and Monday, 'much more than in March when the average was only 77 people' per day. By 2025, up to 1.6 million Afghans could be expelled, estimated the U.N. to AFP.
Currently, about three million Afghans live in Pakistan: 800,000 had their Pakistani residence cards canceled in April, while 1.3 million still have a residence permit until June 30 because they are registered with the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees; others have no papers. 'We deeply regret that Afghan refugees are subjected to violence,' the ministry in Kabul further states. 'All refugees should have the opportunity to take their money, belongings, and possessions with them,' it adds.
Afghans crossing the border have reported to AFP in recent days that they left without being able to take all of their belongings or money, while others are rounded up and taken directly to the border without being able to gather their effects. Furthermore, for months, human rights activists have reported harassment, extortion, and bullying by Pakistani security forces against Afghans.
Moniza Kakar, a lawyer in Karachi, the largest city in Pakistan, said to AFP: 'The Afghans are not allowed to take their belongings,' and 'families are separated by these arrests because there is no family mechanism.' 'No one should use refugees for political purposes,' said the Afghan ministry again, as relations between Kabul and Islamabad experience a chill, fueled notably by security issues. Upon request by AFP, Pakistani authorities have not yet commented.
'My only crime is being Afghan,' laments Chah Mahmoud, back in Afghanistan at the Torkham crossing. 'I had papers, they tore them up.' By the end of 2023, Pakistan had already expelled more than 800,000 Afghans, accused of causing trouble in Pakistan, a country mired in political and economic turmoil and violence.
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